Pharmacy Employees - do they deliver a WOW experience?
Which of your employees is the most expensive to employ? You're probably thinking it's the pharmacy manager, lead pharmacist or even yourself, when actually it's the person you ought to fire but have yet to do so.
As a pharmacy owner it is your primary responsibility to hire the best people possible. Your employees are your touch points with your customers. When you have the very best people, their skills and personalities will drive the WOW customer experience, it will drive the right service at the right time, and bring in more business than you've ever imagined.
Hire Eagles, Not Turkeys
Tom Feltenstein, marketing visionary, motivational trainer, and this year's keynote speaker at our annual conference, teaches it is essential to hire Eagles, NOT Turkeys. Business owners should be constantly on the lookout, one by one, for people who shine. It is important to grow their level of responsibilities as it will result in higher Eagle retention. Tom also suggests looking for people who are naturally gifted in the art of relating. You can train a skill, but you can't enhance talent.
Unfortunately most turkeys have learned to to dress up like eagles, causing you to hire them thinking they are going to shine and improve your business. WARNING - you cannot dress a turkey to look like an eagle. A turkey may fool you in the beginning, but remember: a turkey, is a turkey, is a turkey!
To help separate the Eagles from the Turkeys during the hiring process, you need to ask the following questions:
- Give me an example of the last time you showed high initiative.
- Give me an example of something you did that was flawlessly executed. Note: Eagles will ask for your definition of flawless execution.
- Identify one of your critical success factors in the store and then ask the interviewee to describe their most comparable success.
The answers to these three questions will help you identify and separate the Eagles from the Turkeys. A complete list of questions and other hiring tools can be found in the Marketing Solution Center Library.
Caring for Eagles
Your PDS coach is a trained practitioner with knowledge and tools for continuous employee growth. Their process is designed to recognize good employees, develop recognition programs, and address employees who are not meeting standards.
It's also designed to provide you with business tools that will improve your effectiveness while eliminating the hard work. Ultimately the coaching process is about identifying goals and reaching those goals on a regular basis. Involving a coach with the management of your business will reignite your passion to succeed. The results will come from your passion. The best Eagles will want to work for the strongest businesses.
It is vital to your businesses growth and success that you take care of your Eagles as they are your most valuable assets. Eagles need to be continuously challenged and developed. This can be done by enlarging their responsibilities, sending them to workshops and high-level pharmacy training courses, subsidizing their own educational pursuits while continuously recognizing their hard work with performance incentives.
